A perfect score on the college entrance exam? The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng has astonis

three days later.

9:30 a.m.

Chen Mo stood downstairs at Su Wanci's house, holding two cups of coffee in his hand.

A glass of iced Americano, his own.

A cup of taro boba milk tea, from Su Wanci.

He leaned against the iron railing at the entrance of the building, looking down at his phone.

On the screen, the message Principal Wang sent last night was still there—"I'd welcome you even if you brought a penguin."

He twitched his lips slightly and then locked the screen.

I heard the creaking sound of the building entrance door opening behind me.

Su Wanci came out, wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, with her hair tied in a low ponytail, carrying a canvas bag, and wearing a pair of white canvas shoes.

She saw the milk tea in Chen Mo's hand.

His eyes lit up.

Then she quickly reverted to an "I don't care" expression.

"Here you go." Chen Mo handed over the milk tea.

Su Wanci took it, inserted the straw, took a sip, and her eyes narrowed into two crescent moons.

She took two breaths, then suddenly remembered something and looked up at Chen Mo.

How did you know I wanted to drink this?

"Because you always drink this."

Su Wanci was stunned for a moment.

She thought about it and it seemed to be true.

Every time she goes to a bubble tea shop, she orders the taro boba bubble tea and never changes it.

But she couldn't remember when she had told Chen Mo about it.

"Are you observing me?"

Her voice rose slightly.

"I observed it with my toes."

Chen Mo took a sip of his iced Americano and turned to walk towards the bus stop.

"Every time I order, you read out the full name: 'One Taro Boba Milk Tea, Less Ice, 30% Sugar.' I think it's hard not to remember it."

Su Wanci opened her mouth, wanting to say, "Then you can't prove that you were an observer; you just have a good memory."

But she swallowed the words back. She jogged a few steps to catch up with him, and the two walked side by side on the sidewalk.

"What are you planning to say when you go on stage later?" Su Wanci suddenly asked.

Chen Mo thought for a moment.

"have no idea."

"You don't know? You promised to give a speech, and you haven't even thought about what you'd say?"

"If you've thought it through, you won't come."

Su Wanci rolled her eyes.

"You're not going to say 'anyone with hands can do it' again, are you? The principal said they'd love to hear you say that, but if you actually did, where would Principal Wang's face be?"

Chen Mo smiled.

"Then what should I say? 'Study hard and make progress every day'?"

"That's too perfunctory."

"Filial piety towards parents and respect for teachers?"

"Even more perfunctory."

Chen Mo thought for a moment, then his expression suddenly turned serious.

"Write a poem."

Su Wanci paused for a moment.

"poetry?"

"Um."

"You wrote it on the spot?"

"Um."

Su Wanci looked at him for two seconds, then smiled.

There was a sense of helplessness in that smile.

"Fine, go ahead and write. They'll love whatever you write anyway."

The two walked to the bus stop, and the bus arrived just then. There weren't many people on the bus, so they found seats by the window. Su Wanci sat on the side by the window, and Chen Mo sat next to her.

The scenery outside the window recedes into the distance—trees, shops, pedestrians, traffic lights—like a slowly elongated scroll painting.

Su Wanci was drinking her milk tea and looking out the window when she suddenly spoke.

"Chen Mo."

"Um."

Are you nervous?

"I'm not nervous."

Why?

Chen Mo thought for a moment.

"Because they don't give me a score."

Su Wanci was taken aback by his words, then laughed.

As she was laughing, she suddenly remembered something.

Were you nervous during your college entrance exam?

"I'm not nervous."

Why?

"Because I'm the one who rates others."

Su Wanci laughed even harder, almost spitting out her milk tea through the straw. She wiped her mouth with a tissue and glared at Chen Mo.

"Can you be serious? I'm asking you a serious question."

"I'm very serious."

Chen Mo's expression was indeed very serious.

"During the college entrance exam, I sat in the exam hall, looking at the test paper, and I was thinking—what can this test test me on? I know all the answers to these questions, so why should I be nervous?"

Su Wanci remained silent for a while.

Suddenly I realized he had a point.

He knew all of that.

What's there to be nervous about?

The bus stopped at the stop in front of the school.

The two got out of the car and saw a red banner hanging at the school gate in the distance.

"A warm welcome to Chen Mo, an outstanding graduate of the Class of 2024, to return to campus for a speech."

Su Wanci couldn't help but laugh when she saw the banner.

"Your name alone is printed on such a huge banner."

Chen Mo glanced at it.

"Waste of cloth."

Su Wanci rolled her eyes at him, and the two of them walked into the school gate together.

The school is already bustling with activity.

Today is the mobilization meeting for the second year of high school, and all the students in the second year are sitting in the auditorium.

Some students who didn't get seats were standing in the corridor looking through the windows.

The campus was filled with people discussing Chen Mo.

"Did you hear? Senior Chen Mo is giving a speech today!"

"Of course, otherwise why would I take leave instead of skipping it? I did it just to see him."

Do you think he might write a poem on the spot? Like he did at the Luoshui Scenic Area?

"I don't know, but if he writes it down, I'll definitely record it so I can show it to my grandson later—your grandpa went to the same school as Chen Mo back then."

"How do you think Chen Mo studies? Does he only sleep four hours a day?"

"I heard he sleeps in class."

"That's because they know how to do it before they go to sleep! If you knew how, you could go to sleep too."

"I heard he sleeps in class."

"That's because they know how to do it before they go to sleep! If you knew how, you could go to sleep too."

"I can't, so I can't sleep."

Several girls walked past Su Wanci, notebooks and pens in hand, talking excitedly as they went. One of them, with pigtails, spoke the loudest: "Do you think senior Chen Mo has a girlfriend?"

Another girl lowered her voice: "I heard so. It's someone from his class who went to Peking University with him."

"Really? Who is it?"

"I don't know, no one has ever seen her face. But I've heard she's exceptionally beautiful."

"Of course. How could a girl who inspired Chen Mo to write 'Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River' not be beautiful?"

Su Wanci's ears turned slightly red when she heard this.

She looked down, pretending to look at her phone, but the screen was black.

Chen Mo walked beside her, his expression unchanged, as if he hadn't heard anything.

They crossed the playground and walked past the teaching building.

We arrived at the entrance of the administration building.

Principal Wang was already standing at the door, wearing a dark blue shirt, his hair neatly combed, and his smile as bright as the June sun.

"Chen Mo!"

He strode up to Chen Mo, grabbed his hand, and shook it vigorously twice. "I've been waiting for you! Come on, come on, let's go to my office first, have a cup of tea, and then we'll go to the lecture hall."

"Hello, Principal Wang."

Su Wanci whispered from the side.

Principal Wang then noticed her, and his smile widened even further.

"Su Wanci is here too! Great, great, great! You two are the pride of our school. Come up on stage and sit with us in a bit."

Su Wanci quickly waved her hand: "I'm not going on stage, I'm just here to listen in."

...

...